Samsung is in the final stages of Bixby smart speaker development and if things go as planned, it may make its official debut before Christmas.

Consumer electronics major Samsung has officially confirmed that the company is working on Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based Bixby smart speaker and is on the verge of completing the project.

This comes as a welcome surprise, as a reliable report surfaced online last month suggesting that Samsung, which has been working on Bixby smart speaker for more than a year under the banner: Project Vega, was yet to finalise the hardware specifications. And, also the production hit a roadblock due to slow progress in Bixby Voice development, especially with regard to English command inputs.

Back then, Samsung chose to remain silent with regard to speculations. Now, it looks like the company has sorted out the issues. DJ Koh, president of Mobile Communications Business, Samsung Electronics, on the sidelines of the Galaxy Note8 launch in New York city, confirmed to CNBC that Bixby smart speaker is indeed under works. Koh is personally overseeing the development and if things go as planned, it will be launched soon. Many are pegging it to debut before Christmas.

Samsung Bixby voice assistant.Samsung

Samsung Bixby smart speaker will be on the lines of popular Amazon Alexa-powered Echo speakers, Google Home and Apple HomePod, and is expected to offer more functionalities considering how Samsung has been marketing the Bixby Voice feature on its Galaxy S8 and Note8 series.